U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,277 discloses a plurality of separable strips, each strip being divided into a handle section and an identification section. Carbon paper strips overlie the identification sections and are peeled away after patient identification has been imprinted on the identification section by a suitable imprinting device. The identification section of each strip is then inserted into a tubular bracelet, and the handle section is detached along a line of perforation.
Although the system so described is widely used, it does have certain disadvantages. For example, removal of the carbon paper following imprinting ordinarily may result in a tearing of that paper. An end portion of the carbon paper strip may remain adhesively attached to the base strip and, even if the residual portion is not actually coated with carbon or other image-transferring material, such residuum nevertheless mars the appearance of the completed band. While pressure-sensitive adhesives might be used to permit separation of the carbon paper from the base strip without tearing of the strip, consistency of operation is difficult to achieve because of changes occurring in such adhesives when subjected to different storage conditions and storage intervals. In fact, carbon paper of the type used in such a system has only a limited shelf life for approximately six to nine months; after that, it tends to harden and produce an increasingly faint image.
In modern hospital operations, an identification card or plate is ordinarily prepared for each patient at the time of admission, such card having raised indicia setting forth relevant information concerning the patient and, in general, having the appearance of a typical plastic credit card. Since the hospital normally uses such an identification card, in conjunction with a standard ink roller imprinter, to mark charts, reports, invoices, and most other documents pertaining to the patient, it would be advantageous to use such a card and imprinter for applying a patient's name and other identifying data to the insert strip for an identification bracelet. Although the system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,277 may be so used, the arrangement necessarily results in ink from the roller being applied to the outer surface of the carbon paper and, consequently, during subsequent peeling away of that carbon paper, a user may find it difficult to avoid getting either ink from the imprinter or carbon from the underside of the carbon paper onto his (her) fingers, clothing, and nearby objects.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved identification strip assembly, and its method of use, in which a conventional ink roller imprinter may be utilized to imprint an insert strip and, after such imprinting, a protective cover may be easily and quickly removed from the insert strip, and the insert strip may be readily inserted into a tubular identification bracelet, followed by detachment of a handle section of the insert strip, all with greater facility and less likelihood of ink-finger contact than in the use of prior devices. Another object is to provide a device which may be easily and quickly used to produce a final bracelet assembly having an improved appearance when compared with the use of prior devices.
Briefly, the identification strip assembly comprises an elongated base strip having a tip section at one end, a handle section at the opposite end, and an insert section therebetween. Overlying the base strip is a cover strip, one portion of the cover strip being secured to the handle section, another portion being secured to the tip section, and an intermediate portion extending over the insert section without being directly attached thereto. The cover strip must be capable of producing an image on the insert portion of the base strip when localized pressure is applied to the two components; for that purpose, the cover strip, or both the cover strip and the underlying insert section of the base strip, may be coated with impact-sensitive microcapsules which release image-producing dyes when ruptured, all as well known in the art in connection with what is commonly termed "carbonless" paper. Alternatively, conventional carbon paper may be used, as well as any other pressure-sensitive material which will result in the transfer or development of an image on the insert section of the base strip when pressure is applied by a typewriter, imprinting roller, writing instrument, or some other pressure-applying device.
The insert section of the base strip is delineated from the tip section and the handle section by two lines of perforation. A third line of perforation traverses the cover strip. The perforations are formed so that the resistance to separation along the perforation line between the insert section and the handle section of the base strip is greater than the combined resistance to separation of the line of perforation adjacent the tip section and the line of perforation across the cover strip. Consequently, following an imprinting step, a user may simply grip the assembly with the fingers of one hand holding the covered tip section and those of the other hand gripping the covered handle section and then, with an endwise snapping action, simultaneously break the line of perforation across the cover strip as well as the line of perforation across the base strip adjacent the tip section, while leaving intact the line of perforation between the handle section and the insert section. Still holding the device by its handle, the user may then feed the indicia-bearing insert section into a tubular plastic bracelet and, gripping the insert section between the walls of the bracelet, the exposed handle section may be snapped outwardly to break the base strip along the remaining line of perforation.
Ideally, the edges of the insert section taper inwardly immediately adjacent the tip section. As a result, the line of perforation adjacent the tip section tends to be broken more easily than the longer line of perforation between the insert and handle sections. Of even greater importance is the fact that following detachment of the tip section, such taper of the insert section facilitates insertion of that section into the interior of a tubular bracelet. Such insertion is also facilitated by the stiffening effect on the handle section produced by the remaining portion of the cover strip secured thereto, and by the adhesive which bonds such elements together.
Other references illustrative of the state of the art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,027,665, 2,954,620, 3,889,411, 3,179,441, and 2,719,735.